Recent content by elurah

I agree this looks like overheating. From your receipe, the most likely culprit is the sugar in the goat milk. This kind of thing can happen with goat milk soaps or soaps with honey, fruit purees, sugar, etc. Here are some examples from the web: https://www.millersoap.com/botched.html...

Made a spin swirl soap scented with Dark Patchouli (below). I made another soap with Sweet Cakes' Fall Foliage FO which smells amazing (think fig leaf, amber, violet). I went a little bit more bold on the color pallete for that one so we will see how it comes out. 🤞

Here is a Dark Patchouli soap I made 5/1/2020 with a 6 color spin swirl: The colorant usage rate below: 1) White - no colorant, just the soap base (SAO, OO, Coconut, Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Castor Oil) 2) Light Pink - Rose Clay 1/4 tsp ppo [ per pound of oils] 3) Dark pink - Rose Clay 1...

That is a beautiful soap, great job! Looks like you have some soda ash on the top, which you can get rid of by steaming the tops or your soaps. Sometimes I leave the soda ash on for aesthtic reasons. I think your soap may also have bubbles in it as well. Did you use a stick blender? Sometimes...

I kept it cool since I added dairy to it, I like the ungelled look for soaps to appear more creamy. Just the indigo root powder!

I made this soap 3/31/2020, and was able to cut it 4/1/2020 after 18 hours in the mold. I was originally planning to have one thin line of indigo in the middle that was made from a drop swirl, but I ended making more of the blue part than needed o_O. I still really like the way it came out...

I made Rosewood Cedarwood soaps on Sunday. The swirls are with kaolin clay and cocoa powder.

Thanks for the explanation, DeAnna, much appreciated. Here are some photos of the cut soap from this morning. No more zaps, so I am in good spirits.

I had the idea to make a wild berry port during the summer. Of course I never got around to it but I have a lot of frozen blackberries and serviceberries still in my freezer.

I like the Lavender 40/42 and Lavender, Bulgaria from New Direction Aromatics. The big barriers for NDA is they have a $100 purchase minimum and are currently not taking new orders with COVID. Still, if you are planning to get a big batch of EOs all at once there quality is top notch, and you...

DeeAnna I remember reading that thread about testing pH and of course I forgot about it. I need to review the chemistry to remind myself about the distinctions between excess alkalinity and pH. It has been a while. I ended up popping it into the oven on low heat for an hour to ensure/force...

Hi Sparky, This recipe looks good to me, and if you put in all ingredients as listed, you should have a very usable soap in 6 weeks! With regards to your specific questions, can you post photos of your soaps? I have a couple of thoughts though that may be able to trouble shoot what happened...

Hi Sparky, Welcome to the site! This is an incredible resource and I have learned so much over the past few years from them. I love that you and your kids are learning about this together. The first batch of soap I every made was when I was 16 with my dad. He had Sandy Maine's soap book for...

On what day do you usually do the zap test? Honestly, I usually do it on the day of unmolding and cutting,24 hours after pouring my soaps and I usually don't have a problem, until today. (dun dun dun) Here is the recipe: Sweet Almond Oil 17.1 oz (25%) Coconut Oil 76 15.05oz (22%) Shea Butter...

I love that PB&J soap, the coloring looks great.